The Dark Army: Uprising
The Dark Army: Uprising, often abbreviated TDA, is the first part of two-parts divided free single-player standalone modification of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, developed and published by 85 Prøductions, to be released in November 2016 on Microsoft Windows via Mod DB. Story Weeks after the failure of the Nazis in Isenstadt, a British undercover agent working for the Office of Secret Actions (OSA) organization reports that Deathshead has survived to his Zeppelin accident, and is now working on a totally new bio-mechanic experiment, in order to create a new army of Super Soldiers. According to the Intel the British agent provided, Deathshead, hidden in a secret base in German mountains, has send infantry troops in a village not far from his position, for archaeological excavations, in order to find a special artifact, called “'The Dark Relic'”. This artifact is somehow important for the enemy's plan, in order to create new Super Soldiers, with a powerful form of energy. Deathshead plans to create the ultimate army of Super Soldiers with this dark and powerful relic – with the goal to institute a new order. The Office of Secret Actions (OSA) organization decides to send American agent B.J. Blazkowicz to infiltrate the village in order to put a stop to the archaeological excavations, thus stopping Deathshead's project. Missions The first part of the mod contains five new episodes. The Village In the first episode, B.J. Blazkowicz has to infiltrate an enemy village in the northern mountains of Germany, in which an excavation site seems to be located. The enemy does its best to find an ancient alchemical artifact, called “'The Dark Relic'”, which is the key of Deathshead's plans to create a new army of Super Soldiers. Highly guarded and protected, the entrance to the sewers, the only way to get to the excavation site, is the main objective. The Sewers In the second episode, B.J. Blazkowicz has to follow the enemy troops in the sewers, where the highly-guarded entrance of the excavation site is located. The Crypt In the third episode, B.J. Blazkowicz has to stop the enemy troops in the crypt where “'The Dark Relic'” is located – undead beings are also part of the operation. The Track In the fourth episode, a captured and imprisoned B.J. Blazkowicz has to sneak into Deathshead's base, following the enemy's success in the crypt to find the alchemical artifact, “'The Dark Relic'”. The Base In the fifth and last episode, B.J. Blazkowicz has to put stop the enemy's plan, sneaking into Deathshead's base in order to stop the uprising of “'The Dark Army'”. Characters This section will be available soon. Enemies This section will be available soon. Weapons This section will be available soon. Items This section will be available soon. Gameplay This section will be available soon. Features Below are listed various new features brought by this modification: *Exclusive missions (including more cutscenes) *Remade guns (including camouflage options) *Better light system (including anamorphic lens flares) *New user interface (including remade HUD) *Finest blood effects (including new sprites) *Detailed high-quality sounds (including sound reverberation) *'Detailed' high-definition textures (including 4K-adapted textures) * Night and day choice (including different enemy behaviors) More features will be included thanks to the implementation of the RealRTCW engine. History Indirect reveal On July 14, 2013, the developer asked for help through a thread on Splash Damage and WarChest' Return to Castle Wolfenstein editing forums about artificial intelligence related problems. Explaining the symptoms of the problems he had at the time indirectly revealed the nature of what he was working on, forcing him to tease before the official reveal. Early teasing On July 17, 2013, the developer begun a teasing campaign through a thread on Splash Damage and WarChest' Return to Castle Wolfenstein editing forums about a future map pack (add-on) for Return to Castle Wolfenstein; few screenshots were published during the following days, presenting potential features about the project. Worldwide reveal On July 21, 2013, the modification was revealed through a thread on Splash Damage and WarChest' Return to Castle Wolfenstein editing forums, as a single-player add-on modification for Return to Castle Wolfenstein; few screens were published that day. It was announced that the modification wouldn't release before 2014, however it was quickly stated that the it would release in 2015 instead, possibly in that year's Winter season. Division announcement On November 18, 2014, during a community-organized event to celebrate Return to Castle Wolfenstein's thirteenth anniversary, a third (and short) trailer for the modification was shown, revealing the project's division in two parts, the first subtitled Uprising coming around 2015. Important news On March 1, 2015, important revelations surfaced that day through a massive update by the developer, such as the engine's reveal (iortcw) but also about a serious release date: December 2015; for, at least, the Microsoft Windows version. The developer also talked about the lifetime of the mod and the features proposed by the new engine. Release date On August 23, 2015, the developer released the last trailer of the modification as well as a long gameplay presentation commented by TheRenegadist (voice acting Jack Stone as well as the OSA Director); both of these videos shown a release date for December 30, 2015. Initial release On December 30, 2015, the Microsoft Windows version of the modification was released on Mod DB. However, unexpected issues were quickly spotted that, even with a patch released by the developer, were not able to be fixed for a majority of the players. Re-release announcement On January 2, 2016, the developer was unfortunately forced to retrieve the mod from Mod DB servers and to announce the project's overhaul revision. First announcing the modification's comeback for February 20 and then for May 8 of the same year, the developer decided to replace the project's engine, which considerably affected the re-release, which was later announced to have been moved to November. Release In 2013, it was announced that the project would release in Winter 2015 (potentially December). In 2014, plans regarding the release were changed and the developer announced a Q4 2014 release; it later returned to a 2015 release. In 2015, it was revealed that the complete product will release in December, the original release date announced two years earlier – later in the year moving to December 30, 2015. In 2016, due to multiple issues for many players and mixed reviews, the modification was quickly retrieved from its original download site, and announced to be re-released after an overhaul revision; first announced to comeback on February 20, 2016, and then May 8 of the same year, the release is currently scheduled for November due to an almost unexpected engine swap. Distribution Editions The developer stated he was planning different editions for the release of the modification on Mod DB. However, when asked, he didn't give any additional information, stating about the persistence of the idea of releasing editions of the final product with different additional content. However, after the initial release's mixed reception, the developer announced the cancellation of such iterations. Platforms Totally different in terms of abilities, Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh and Linux versions of the modification would have been unequal due to game-play constraints on some of these platforms, initially stated the developer. After the initial release's mixed reception, the developer changed the modification's engine to a more recent one which is not compatible with Apple Macintosh and Linux operating systems, meaning the final build will be Microsoft Windows exclusive (later confirmed by the developer). Guide Download-able separately, a digital strategy guide will also be available at launch, as stated by the developer. After the initial release's mixed reception, it is still unknown if the idea has been abandoned or not. Add-ons As initially stated by the developer, this modification would have had download-able additional content. However, after the initial release's mixed reception, the developer stated, through a status update, that no add-ons will be released in the end. Demo It was stated there would be a public playable demo some weeks before the mod's release and a closed demo for some mappers, before the public one. It was confirmed, in the second Q&A interview, that the plan was abandoned, for unknown reasons (probably development-related). The developer stated that he was considering the initial release of December 30, 2015 as a Beta demo version, or Early Access instead, as it was still quite buggy and glitchy at that moment. Reception Upon its initial release on December 30, 2015 via Mod DB, unexpected issues were quickly spotted that, even with a patch released by the developer, were not able to be fixed for a majority of the players, giving birth to mixed reviews. It resulted in the modification's retrieval from its download site as well as the announcement of a re-release after an overhaul of the project. Development The project is developed (and published) by 85 Prøductions since July 2013. As multiple stand-by periods happened, the main factor that accelerated the development is the project's division that happened in November 2014. The mapping/scripting development phases came to an end in August 2015 as well as the voice acting phases. After a mixed-reviewed initial release, the project came to an overhaul treatment to be re-released. Voice acting As the story's the most important part of the project, the developer stated about a collaboration with a few voice actors, in order to fully bring to life the different characters and NPCs of the modification. Product testing The developer stated he often tested the mod, but this step of testing is really important to evaluate the final product, to rate-it and more importantly to hunt the potential persistent bugs in the need to be fixed. The Alpha testing phases were done by a private tester of the modification. Overhaul treatment After a mixed-reviewed initial release, the project came to an overhaul treatment in order to be re-released. Credits Being developed and published by 85 Prøductions, the project's received a lot of external help and different contributions — below are the original members/contributors of this modification. Modification * TITEUF-85 Developer * WolfETPlayer Engine Programmer * M4N4T4RMS Former Engine Programmer * Alexandre Additional Weapons Programmer * Eugeny Panikarowsky Textures Artist * KatsBits Models Artist & Tutorials * Vicente Pasquino Resources Provider * Rocket_Warrior85 Modification's Tester * Cezary Szydlik & Marcin Mirtynski '''Specific Support * '''Mike Smith, ailmanki & AidenDemon Additional Support Cast * MegapiemanPHD B.J. Blazkowicz * TheRenegadist Jack Stone; OSA Director * Br0kenEnglish Deathshead; Wilhelm Von Starke; Karl Von Starke * Appleyard_Voiceovers – Sequel It will be followed by the expected second part that hasn't been revealed yet, presumably landing soon after the first part on the same platforms via the same website; taking place “''right after the surprising ending of the first part''” following the developer. See also *The Victors References This section will be available soon. External links *Mod DB *Facebook *Twitter *YouTube *Google+ *Forum Thread (US/UK) *Forum Thread (RU) *Website (Down)__FORCETOC__ Category:Return to Castle Wolfenstein Modification Category:Return to Castle Wolfenstein